Sunday, December 28, 2014

Colleges that pledged to help poor families have been doing the opposite

How depressing:

As institutions vie for income and prestige in this way, the net prices they're charging the lowest-income students, after discounts and financial aid, continue to rise faster on average than the net prices they're charging higher-income ones, according to an analysis of newly released data the universities and colleges are required to report to the U.S. Department of Education.

This includes the 100 higher-education institutions whose leaders attended a widely publicized White House summit in January and promised to expand the opportunities for low-income students to go to college. In fact, the private universities in that group collectively raised what the poorest families pay by 10 percent, compared to 5 percent for wealthier students, according to the analysis by The Dallas Morning News and The Hechinger Report based on information the U.S. Department of Education released this month covering 2008-09 to 2012-13, the most recent period available.

Not only did the White House pledge schools raise their net prices faster for the poorest than for higher-income families on a percentage basis, the new figures show; nearly a third increased the actual dollar amount more quickly for their lowest-income than their higher-income students.

November 30, 2014

Colleges that pledged to help poor families have been doing the opposite, new figures show